Production line for steel landing mats



Aug. 13, 1968"4 N. A. DI MARGIO ET Al- 3,396,451

PRODUCTION LINE FOR STEEL LANDING MATS Filed May 24. 1966 RNEY.

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United States Patent C) 3,396,451 PRODUCTION LINE FOR STEEL LANDING MATS Nicholas A. DiMargio, Youngstown, and Isadore L. Silver, Warren, Ohio, assignors to Syro Steel Company, Girard, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed May 24, 1966, Ser. No. 552,456 2 Claims. (Cl. 29-200) ABSTRACT OF THE DSCLOSURE A production line for steel landing mats and the like incorporating a plurality of metal-working devices that progressively forms, shapes and separates the individual landing mats from initially fed coils of steel.

This invention relates to a production line for landing mats and more particularly to a production line which produces stamped and shaped steel sheets which can then be assembled into landing mats for airplanes.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of a production line incorporating a plurality of metalworking devices that progressively forms, shapes and separates the individual landing mats from initially fed coils of steel.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a production line for landing mats which requires a minimum of handling of the mats being formed and provides for removal of a piece for inspection and substitution of a previously inspected piece so as to maintain the continuous flow of mats along the production line.

A still further object of the invent-ion is the provision of a production line for landing mats which achieves more than double the hourly production rate heretofore believed possible and reduces the labor necessary by atleast 50%.

The production line for landing mats disclosed herein achieves unusual and unexpected results. In the rapid and economic production of landing mats by progressively working on a steel strip in an initial rolling mill section following the supplying of the steel strip to the section from a coil buggy and pay oi coil with peeler and leveler as will be understood by those skilled in the art the steel strip passes progressively through the shear Welder, looper, pinch rolls and a sixteen stand rolling mill which forms a full rib and two partial ribs and side trims the steel section to the necessary width. The trimmed strip then passes through two presses with flying dies which pierce the necessary holes, forms the necessary bayonets and bayonet slots whereupon strip passes through a second sixteen stand rolling mill which completes the forming of the ribs, rolls the edge and bends the bayonets. The continuous strip of metal having thus been largely formed and shaped while in an integral section then passes through another press and ilyng die which swedges the end of the section, stamps on the part numbers and separates it to the necessary length whereupon the plurality of individual landing mats are then fed continuously to a conveyor which moves it into inspection, welding, testing, classification and sorter stations progressively as hereinafter described.

Those skilled in the art will observe that in the formation of landing mats as heretofore known in the art individual steel sheets were moved individually through various forming, blanking and shaping operations whereas in the present invention the continuous production line achieves greatly increased efficiency, more accuracy and a much higher speed of production at a considerably lower cost by performing the shaping, piercing and blanking operations on a continuously moving unitary steel strip.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will Frice appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being the intention to cover all changes and modifications of the example of the invention herein chosen for purposes of the disclosure, which do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE l is a top plan symbolic view of the production line.

FIGURE 2 is a side view showing the sequence of the individual landing mat as loaded on the conveyor in the paint line portion of the production line of FIGURE l of the drawings.

By referring to the drawings and FIGURE 1 in particular, it will be seen that an elongated block 10 diagrammatically illustrates a rolling mill section which is the iirst portion of the novel production line. The rolling mill section indicated by the elongated block 10 includes a starting position and the coil buggy on which the coil of steel is received for processing. The coil is positioned ou a pay off coil and fed into a peeler and leveler to properly feed and straighten the steel strip. The strip then moves continuously and unbrokenly into a shear Welder, a looper between pinch rolls and progressively through a sixteen stand rolling mill which forms one full rib and two partial ribs and side trims the steel to the necessary width. The still unbroken steel strip continues progressively through two presses with ilying dies which pierce all the necessary holes, blank the essential bayonets and bayonet slots in the landing mats and imprint part nomenclatures. The strip now nearing completion proceeds continuously through a second sixteen standing rolling mill which completes the forming of the ribs, rolls the edge and bends the bayonet. The strip then continuously passes through another press and flying die which swedges the end, stamps on the part numbers and separates it to the necessary length. At this stage the landing mat is complete except for the welding, testing, inspection, painting and bundling and is ready for delivery from the rolling mill section as seen in the block 10 of the drawing to the conveyor and inspection section 12 immediately to the left thereof in FIGURE l of the drawing.

`The landing mat sections are delivered by the conveyor 12 with the overlapped end trailing and the rolled edge and hooks facing down. The conveyor 12 extends to a transfer portion 13 and therebeyond to a reject and inspection station 14. An inspector at the reject and inspection station 14 feeds one mat into the inspection station and transfers the other sidewardly to a reload station 1'5. Each time one section is fed into the reject and inspection station 14 the previously inspected section therein is substituted therefor as the mats progress to the reload station 15. Thus the line operates continuously without any interruption as would otherwise be necessary for the required inspection.

The mats leaving the reload station 15 continue to move transversely and into a welding station 16. In the welding station 16 two men insert sliding bolts and the cover plates. The cover plates are automatically arc-welded in proper position. The landing mat is then switched to a hold position where the sliding bolts are tack-welded. The landing mat is then transferred into a resistance welding station. Here the locking lug and retaining keys are positioned in the landing mat and the retaining keys are automatically resistance welded to the landing mat. The landing mat is then transferred to station 17 and flopped over and two operators tack weld the rolled edge. The flop over station is indicated in the FIGURE l by the numerals 17 and 18 and the tack welding of the rolled edge is performed there. The conveyor 22 in area 18 delivers the landing mats to the right to a sorter rotate station 19. At the end of the op over and weld station 18 all of the pieces of the landing mat are in identical arrangement and it is therefore necessary to rotate seven pieces counterclockwise, pass one piece straight through and rotate the following six pieces clockwise to arrange the proper sequence of landing mats for the required bundling which is hereinafter described. The sorter and rotate station 19 includes a rotatable table 20 having a crossed arrangement of conveyor rolls thereon. Conveyor rolls 21 receive the landing mats from the conveyor 22 where the mats were positioned following their flop over and retained during the Welding of the rolled edges as heretofore described. The rotate station also includes transversely arranged conveyor rolls, 23 and the rotate station itself is rotatable by a separate device (not shown) and is vertically movable to enable it to be lined up with its adjacent conveyor sections. The rotate device is part of the sorter station which is provided in the production line to provide the proper stacking or arrangement of the landing mats as they are fed into the paint line and from the same into the eventual bundles as required. The individual landing mats leaving the conveyor 22 move on to the conveyor 21 of the rotate station 19 and the same is arranged to be controlled electronically so that one out of each fourteen pieces travels straight across but via the conveyors 21 while the intermediate landing mats are delivered to the adjacent testing station 24 by appropriate rotation of the rotate station. The landing mat that feeds straight across moves into a saw 25 which cuts the mat in half as each bundle of landing mats requires a split panel -or mat as indicated in FIGURE 2 by the numeral 8. Thus the panel or landing mat that is cut by the saw 25 is returned to the conveyor 23 and more particular the extension 26 thereof by an arcuate conveyor 27 which connects the saw station 25 with the testing station 26.

A further advantageous and novel arrangement of the production line is made possible by the sorter and rotate station vas just described and this comprises an inspection station 28 whereupon by proper actuation of the rotate station 19 a complete sequence of fourteen landing mats may be fed out of the sorter and rotate station, pass the saw 25 and into the inspection station 28 where the individual pieces are laid out first to form a test bundle and secondly to determine whether or not they will fit properly and connect properly with prepositioned mats and sections in an assembly and inspection area 29. When the tested bundle has passed and been reassembled in a restacked bundle position 30 it is then fed back into the line via the arcuate conveyor 27 and into the testing area 24 adjacent the conveyor 26 which leads to the feed end of the paint line.

In FIGURE 1 of the drawings the paint line is shown symbolically by a block outline 31 and as will be understood by those skilled in the art the paint line includes a conveyor on which the landing mat sections are hung in the sequence shown in FIGURE 2 of the drawings and conveyed therethrough and cleaned and dip painted. The feed end is at the left as Seen in FIGURE l of the drawings in the block carrying the reference numeral 31 and the painted and dried landing mat sections are delivered at the right hand end thereof at the unload and stack designation point whereupon the stacked landing mats are positioned on a conveyor 32 and moved to a banding station 33 and subsequently moved therefrom and removed from the conveyor 32 to a shipping point.

The particular government specification which controls the quality of the landing mats produced on the production line disclosed herein requires inspection and this process inspects one out of every fourteen pieces. It will be observed that the sorter and rotate station 19 and the saw station 25 provide a quick and eicient means of pulling out the necessary landing mats for a test bundle and inspecting the same and permit the return of the tested landing mats to the production line as heretofore described and without interfering with the continuous and rapid production which is the principal object of the invention.

It will thus be seen that the testing of the landing mats is performed intermediate the nal production steps thereon and the painting thereof through the unique sorter and rotate station arrangement. lIt will further be seen that during the feeding through of the fourteen sections for inspection and testing the production line continues to operate in the usual manner with the rotate station feeding the pieces of the conveyor 26 and on into the paint line so that the removal of the bundle for testing in no way intereferes with the orderly production of the landing mats.

By referring now to FIGURE 2 of the drawings, it will be observed that the landing mats are illustrated in edgewise position as they are hung in the conveyor in the paint line 30 of the line as illustrated in FIGURE 1 and they will progress through the paint line in the numerical order appearing in FIGURE 2. It will be observed that the parts are reversed relative to one another with the welded rolled edges in oppositely disposed relation including the Split mat, which is indicated by the numeral l8 in FIGURE 2. The arrangement of the landing mats as seen in FIGURE 2 represents one finished bundle as finally assembled and banded at the banding station 32.

In the banding station the bundles are banded -by steel strapping properly tightened and stacked four high and hauled to a shipping point as will be understood by those skilled in the art. It will thus be seen that a production line has been disclosed which due to its novel arrangement and construction makes possible the feeding of a continuous length of steel strip into an initial rolling mill ection where the majority of the formative steps of the landing mats are performed on the continuous strip as it moves along the rolling mill section continuously and that in its final stages the flying die cuts the strip to separate the preformed landing mats. These individual landing mats then move out of the conveyor 12 to the transfer station 13 and alternately to the reject and inspection section 14, they move transversely to the welding station 16 where the inspected mats are reloaded into the line. Following welding of the component parts to the mat as hereinbefore described, they are flopped over in the op over station 17 to the conveyor 22 where their final welding operation is performed on the rolled edges. They then move to the novel and eilicient sorter and rotate station and either to the adjacent inspection station 28 with its assembly and inspection are 29 or directly to the feed end of the paint line 31 all as hereinbefore described.

It will thus be seen that a continuous production line `set up has been disclosed for the ellcient and economical manufacture of landing mats and that the same meets the several objects of the invention and having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

1. A continuous production line for steel landing mats and comprising a rolling mill section, including means for feeding and leveling coil strip, a looper and a Welder, said rolling mill section including a multiple stand rolling mill for shaping said continuous strip into a plurality of landing mat sections, and a flying die for separating said landing mat sections from said strip, conveyor means for receiving said landing mat sections and moving the same to a rst reject and inspection station, secondary conveyor means for moving said landing mats sidewardly to a welding station and means at said welding station for attaching component parts to said landing mat sections, means for turning over said landing mat sections and a third conveyor section for receiving said turned over landing mat sections and a third conveyor section for receiving said turned over landing mat sections and means on said third conveyor section for welding the edges of said landing mat sections, a sorter rotate station including a rotatable conveyor carrying member positioned to receive said landing mat delivered by said third conveyor, said sorter rotate station arranged to deliver said landing mat sections in one of two separate directions depending upon the rotated position of said sorter rotate station, a saw at one of said two positions, a fourth conveyor connecting said saw with a fth conveyor section, said fth con veyor section in position to receive landing mats delivered from said sorter rotate station in the other of said two directions whereby said landing mat sections may be moved either to said saw or to said last mentioned conveyor section in any desired sequence.

2. The production line for landing mats set forth in claim 1 and including a paint line having means for holding said landing mat sections and carrying them and means for painting said mats and positioned adjacent said last mentioned conveyor -of said production line.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,695,444 I11/1954 Johnson et al. 29-208 X 3,014,239 12/1961 Weber 29-200 X 3,171,375 3/ 1965 Linnander 29-200 3,173,172 '3/ 1965 4Pasquetti 29--200 1/1966 Krengel et al. 29-200 THOMAS H. EAGER, Primary Examiner. 

